s.

After a while, in walking along the footpaths of the meadows and by
the woods, a feeling grew upon me that it would be pleasant to know
something of their history. It was through inquiring about the age of
the rookery that this thought took shape. No one could tell me how
long the rooks had built there, nor were there any passing allusions
in old papers to fix the date. There was no tradition of it among the
oldest people; all they knew was that the rooks had always been there,
and they seemed to indicate a belief that there the rooks would always
remain. It seemed to me, however, that the site of their city was
slowly travelling, and in a few generations might be found on the
other side of the Chace. Some of the trees where the nests were most
numerous were decaying, and several were already deserted. As the
trees died, the rooks moved to the next clump, and thus gradually
shifted their city.

This inquiry led to further reflections about the past of the woods
and meadows. Besides the birds, the flowers, and animals that had been
there for so many, many centuries, there were the folk in the
scattered homesteads, whose ancestors might have left some record. In
these times history is concerned only with great cities or strategical
positions of world-wide renown; interest is concentrated on a siege of
Paris or a march towards Constantinople. In days of yore battles were
often fought in or near what seem to us mere villages; little places
whose very names are uncertain and exact site unascertainable were the
centres of strife. Some of these places are buried under the sward as
completely as Herculaneum under the lava. The green turf covers them,
the mower passes over with his scythe and knows not of them.

Hilary had observed in one of his meadows that the turf turned brown
or burnt up in squares during hot summer weather. This he conjectured
to be caused by the shallowness of the soil over some ancient
foundations; and some years before he had had the curiosity to open a
hole, and soon came upon a hidden wall. He did not excavate farther,
but the old folk, when they heard of it, remembered a tradition of a
village having once existed there. At present there were no houses
near; the place, whatever it was, had disappeared. The mention of this
meadow led to some conversation about the names of the fields, which
are often very curious.

Such names as Lea, Leaze, Croft, and so on, are readily explained; but
what was